Clayton
Resident will have you rubbing your eyes in
disbelief
By Cindy Green
When
you hear the word magic, a lot different thoughts might fill your
mind. However, when you
watch Peter Morrison of Clayton perform,
only one thought goes through your mind-how did he do that? Morrison is a magician that
just moved to Clayton with his wife Dawn. He grew up in
Lafayette and early in his life found a love for the
performance of magic.
When
he was about five-years-old, he had a baby-sitter that use to do
magic and this is where he found his initial inspiration. Morrison’s parents soon
bought him his first magic kit and he remembers performing his first
magic trick. When he
was six-years-old, he saw Doug Henning perform in
San
Francisco (Henning was one of greatest magicians of
all times).
It was then Morrison knew that he just had
to become a magician, too.
Morrison still has the original program which Henning had
autographed over his desk today. Morrison’s first paid
performance was for his father’s Rotary Club in
Lafayette at the age of 11. Following high school,
Morrison attended the University of Colorado where he graduated in Psychology. He continued honing his
magic skills between the ages of 15-27 with an informal magic show
here and there. Then,
about six years ago, after meeting his wife who was a youth director
at their church, Morrison used his magic as a means of communicating
with the youth. It was
then when Morrison really started getting back into magic. He started practicing 6-8
hours a day and competing and winning magic contests.
At
the time that he decided to quit his corporate job and do magic
full-time, he was working at Kinko’s doing commercial sales and
incorporating his magic in with the sales. That approach proved to be a
way of “breaking the ice with the clients,” Morrison
said.
Then
when the September 11 tragedy occurred, he was on a cruise and remember thinking, “life is too short.” Within the next month he had
quit his corporate job and began doing what he loves most, being a
full-time magician. He
is currently working two nights a week at ‘You Scream Ice Cream’ in
San Ramon, which is a family ice cream parlor and restaurant. He performs there from
6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Morrison also
does private parties, children’s birthdays and corporate
events. He offers
close-up and personal magic and also stage or parlor magic. He has performed for the
last four years in August at the Dean Lesher Theater in
Walnut
Creek in
the Society of American Magicians’ show “Share the Magic” and will
be appearing this year also on August 9th. Morrison’s wife is also a
performer. She is a Belly Dancer and does family-oriented
shows. During the day
she is a kindergarten teacher in Antioch.
If
you are interested in having Morrison come to an event, he can be
reached at 984-6504 or, log on to his web page at
www.morrisonmagic.com.
(Note: I watched Peter perform for me while I was doing the
interview with him. I
was truly amazed and so were others in the
restaurant).
